Great interest in subsidy scheme “opportunities for all children” Caribbean Netherlands

All children need to be able to join in. Socially, with sports, culture and at school. This is the starting point of the grant scheme “ opportunities for all children”, published on May 2nd, 2017.

As of 2017 the Cabinet has made € 1 million extra a year available to give all children on Bonaire, Saba and S.t.Eustatius opportunities. From May 29th till June 12th 2017, the first period of the subsidy scheme was opened, in both the European and Caribbean Netherlands. The allocation of , € 1 million for the Caribbean Netherlands is determined as follows: € 550.000 for Bonaire, € 250.000 for St. Eustatius and € 200.000 for Saba. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 there is , € 1 million available for the Caribbean Netherlands as well. Grant applications for 2018 may be submitted from May 1st 2018, as of 9 AM till May 15th , 5 PM.

During the period, 79 applications were filed for the three islands jointly with a total amount of about € 2.3 million. With these applications the available budget has been well exceeded . Applications were submitted by the primary and secondary education, organizations for after school care, church organizations, sports clubs, cultural organizations, organizations for nature protection, child care, youth organizations and Centre for youth and family, amongst others.

All organizations who have applied have now received an acknowledgement, or further notice on the submitted request. Currently, the applications submitted are reviewed on their content ,after which additional questions will be sent to the organizations. Most organizations already have received a letter with questions.

A number of applications were rejected immediately, because they didn’t comply with the obvious funding conditions. It is expected that by the end of July a start can be made with the granting and rejecting of grant proposals. Considering the vast amount of submitted applications and the associated amount, not all applications that meet the required conditions can be granted. Applications that comply with the arrangement, are given the first come, first served basis until the grant ceiling is reached. All subsequent requests will be rejected.